R’ י״ל מימון-פישמן, who served as שר הדתות in Israel, had a dream of establishing the סנהדרין in ירושלים. When he raised the issue with Levi Eshkol, who was the Finance Minister at the time, Eshkol asked him: “Where will you find seventy one שונאי בצע?” He responded: “תמורת כסף תמצא אף שונאי בצע.”
Rebbi יונתן אייבשיץ gave a שבת הגדול דרשה on the סוגיה of טמאים נידחים לפסח שני. While he was speaking, supporters of רבי יעקב אמדן interrupted his דרשה and caused a disturbance. However, upon seeing that the crowd in the בית מדרש was ready to attack them, they fled to a side door to
When רב יוסף צבי דושנסקי was still a small child, sitting at the סדר table, he heard his father say "זכאי הוא, חסיד הוא." The child asked his father: "עם השם יתברך הוא חסיד, מדוע אינני אומר ויצמח פורקניה ויקרב משיחיה?"
Upon hearing that a רב bought his position, רבי שמואל מוהליבר remarked: "Now, I understand better the teaching of the גמרא that כל תלמיד חכם שאין בו דעה, נבילה טובה הימנו. Because even if a person wants a worthless נבילה for its hide, he will pay to get it. But people not only don't
A חזן עם-הארץ was chanting the פיוטים on שבת פרשת זכור. When he got to ימח שמו וזכרו, he began with the words חזן וקהל, which appeared merely as instructions for the next פזמון. Following the תפילה, the president of the congregation approached him and said חזן וקהל are plural, shouldn't you have
When a Jewish businessman went bust, the owner of a nearby grocery nevertheless came to him for payment. The businessman brushed him off, saying that he's not paying anyone. The grocer said: "I understand that you’re not paying those to whom you owe thousands or even hundreds of dollars. But I'm owed only $53. Surely
When the position of Chief Rabbi of Bialystok became vacant, it was suggested that the position be offered to רבי מאיר שמחה, who was resident in the City. When the heads of the קהילה decided to look elsewhere, רבי מאיר שמחה observed: "בני ישראל אמרו לאהרן ׳עשה לנו אלוקים׳. But if they thought that
Two members of a בית כנסת didn't get along. Each one tried to belittle the other and to show off his own יראת שמים. Among other things, they each tried to outdo the other in the amount of time they took to say קריאת שמע. When one would be at והיה לכם לציצית, the other
The Vilna Gaon was a fierce opponent of חסידים, putting them in חירם and having them driven from בתי כנסת. One year, on ערב יום כיפור, a group of חסידים gathered at the home of ר׳ שניאור זלמן, the founder of חבד, and recounting their suffering, begged him to curse the Vilna Gaon. ר׳ שניאור
A husband and wife visiting Israel traveled to שדרות for the day. They couldn’t agree whether the name is pronounced Sderot, with a siyan, or Shederot, with a shiyan. As a little boy passed by, they asked him what the city is called. “Sderot,” the boy responded. Glad that he resolved the question,
